Sibling Wedding Speech, Youngest of Four (Short, About 2.5 Minutes)

The speech

Hi, everyone. I'm Delphi, the youngest of the four of us. Viggo is the oldest, then Tiernan, then Octavia, then me. The three of them voted that I should do this. I'd like to think it's because I'm the best speaker. It's because I'm the only one who hasn't cried yet today, and they wanted that on the record.

I'm going to tell you one thing about Viggo, and I'm telling it for all of us.

When you're the fourth kid, there are no photos. Viggo has two albums. Tiernan has one. Octavia has a shoebox. I had nothing, and I didn't know that was unusual until I was eighteen and needed a baby picture for a school thing. Mom went looking and came back with a small blue album I had never seen. Inside were twenty-four photos of me at two years old. Me in the sink. Me asleep on the dog. Me holding a spoon like it was a trophy. Every one labeled in a fourteen-year-old's handwriting, with the date and what I was doing.

Viggo had bought a disposable camera with his own money, used the whole roll on me, and put the album in the hall closet so I'd have one. He never mentioned it. Not once in sixteen years. Half the photos are out of focus and one is his thumb, and it's the best thing I own.

That's our brother. He notices what's missing, and he fixes it without making a speech about it.

Quintessa, you've been at our table for three years. You know which burner on Mom's stove doesn't work, and you stopped pretending to like the dog a long time ago. So this is from all four of us. You get a vote on Thanksgiving now and no vote on the dog.

Please raise your glasses. To Viggo and Quintessa. We'll take the photos this time.

Why it works: One object, the album, does the whole job in under two minutes. The speaker says plainly that she is speaking for the others, and the welcome to the bride is two specifics instead of a line about family.